The Story Within 2
by 78Violetfan
Summary: This is a story that involves scenes in-between the scenes of the episodes of Victorious...It's basically what I believe could be happening within the show, it's just not actually there. This is Jade's point-of-view of my other story The Story Within.
1. Pilot

_**Pilot**_

"Are you mad at me?" Beck questioned.

Jade sighed into the receiver rolling her eyes, "no. Where you'd get that idea?"

"Jade, I'm sorry I couldn't come over tonight." Her boyfriend replied. "I just got busy with my assignments."

"Oh, so you don't want to see me anymore, is that what you're saying?"

"What?! No Jade you're being ridiculous."

"So you think I'm fat!" The girl made her way down the stairs to grab a snack.

Beck let out an impatient sigh, "that's not…No, I don't think you're fat. Jade, you know that. I love you."

"If you loved me you'd be standing beside me right now. Trying to help me decide what to eat." She really wasn't mad at him. In fact, she understood why he couldn't come over. He comes over all the time. They're like permanently stitched together. She just likes giving him a hard time every once in a while. And he plays along because he does love her.

"How about you eat some popcorn?" Beck suggested. Jade could sense the smile on his face. "Put a little red pepper on it and make it a little spicy."

"That actually sounds appetizing."

"Don't forget to get some coffee to go with it."

"You know me so well." Jade grinned, as the doorbell sounded. "Hey, I gotta go. Cat's here."

"All right. I love you."

"I love you too." Jade replied before she placed her phone on the counter top and walked toward the door.

Cat giggled as Jade pulled the door open, "hi."

"Yeah, hey." Jade said, stepping away from the door and allowing the girl into her home. They made their way into the kitchen so Jade could grab the popcorn before they went back to the living room, "do you really want to work on homework?" Jade asked as they sat down.

"We could watch a movie." Cat suggested, on the couch opposite of Jade. She took a handful of the popcorn and stuffed it in her mouth. "Ah, hot! Oh, my God, it's burning my mouth."

Jade chuckled, "yeah it is." She too leaned forward and took a handful of the snack. "Crushed red pepper…a little seedy." She winked.

The girl sitting across from her was too cheery. She had this bright smile on her face and it was super annoying. It's not like it was a surprise really, Cat had always been that way. But still it was annoying nonetheless. "Did you go to the big showcase?" Cat asked.

"No," was the response.

Cat shrugged, "well, you should have. It was awesome. There were lobster cakes and a chocolate fountain I love chocolate…that reminds me of this one time when my family went to a restaurant that had a chocolate fountain an-"

"Cat!" Jade growled. This was completely ridiculous.

The red haired girl gave a little jump as her name was called but she still looked toward her friend, "yeah?"

Jade Shrugged, "I don't care."

"Oh."

There was a long moment of an awkward silence before Cat whispered, "we're gonna have a new girl at school."

Jade glared her way, giving her the I-still-don't-care look.

Cat shrugged, "just saying."

" _Dude why you rubbing my boyfriend?" Jade questioned as she entered the room._

 _Tori stopped rubbing the coffee stain. "Oh, uh-I spilt coffee on-"_

" _Get away from him."_

 _Beck walked over to her smiling slightly, "relax." He soothed, leaning forward and kissing her cheek._

 _"Oh my God, there's a huge fire!" Sikowitz yelled as he crashed inside. The whole class panicked, running each way; screaming, trying to get to safety. "I'm kidding! Kidding!" Sikowitz laughed, "I just wanted to get your blood pumping, which I did. Ha!" He closed the door, "Alright, now let's get started. Rumps in chairs."_

Tori, her name was Tori and she was this prissy little wannabe who just started, and she was just annoying. So aggravating. She arrived with her little innocent little mind, not knowing anything and she spilt coffee on Beck. And then proceeded to try and wipe it off.

She was smiley and cheery, but not in the Cat sort of way that she could handle. Jade just couldn't wrap her mind around this girl. Hollywood Arts was not big enough for the two of them and she was going to make sure that Tori knew that fact.

" _Crash course. Improv; acting without a script. Which means the actor must make up their own actions and dialogue as they perform the scene," Sikowitz explained to Tori. "Understand?" When she tried to object he smiled, "excellent. Jade you will captain the first group of the day, choose your actors."_

 _Jade walked up to the little stage sighing briefly before saying, "Cat, Eli, Beck and Tori."_

"You know what you did today wasn't cool." Cat said the next day as she looked across the room to her friend.

Today they were at Cat's house; they were working on a script for one of their writing classes.

Jade looked up to her friend, her hand sliding the pen away from the paper. Her mind drifted back to school that day and she sighed, "It wasn't my finest moment," Jade whispered, "but it's over and done. I can't change it." It's not really like she wanted to change it either. Tori deserved it. Really, she did. She had spilt coffee on Beck. And Jade was pretty sure there was this flirty look being sent to her boyfriend in the process of wiping away the coffee.

Cat nodded as she looked back at her paper.

 _The iced coffee poured down the new girls scalp before she stood up astonished. Jade just stared at her a moment, a slight smirk gracing her lips as she raised her eyebrow daringly. "What's the prob? Dog."_

 _Tori ran off the stage and out of the room, just hoping the tears stinging her eyes wouldn't escape until after she cleared the room._

It was an instinct. She had to set Tori straight, the coffee was in her hand and the moment was there, she couldn't just not take advantage of the opportunity. Beck gave her a look after the coffee had been poured and once Tori had run away from the class, he had even scolded her a little. Telling her she was being out of line.

Yeah, right.

But she guessed in a way she was out of line. In a way things were handled wrong. But like she said it was an instinct. It just happened. Kind of like she had no control. And admittedly she did feel a little bad about it.

"Would you?" Cat asked after a moment.

The gothic girl sighed as she looked toward the other girl, "would I what?"

Cat shrugged, "change it. If you could go back and change what you did to Tori today, would you?"

Jade was actually thinking about it for a moment, but in the end she shook her head, "no." She shrugged, "probably not." The girl stared into Cat's eyes a moment as she set her pen down and grabbed the Pepsi the young Valentine had gotten for her upon her arrival. "In the end it'll just help her grow."

Cat said nothing as her friend took a drink.

"At least now she knows her boundaries."

The next day was surprising to most. No one really expected Tori Vega to turn back up in Hollywood Arts. Honestly Jade wasn't really sure how she'd felt about it. The girl waltzed into Sikowitz's classroom ready for their lesson. Of course when Sikowitz told Tori to pick her actors she'd picked Jade.

That meant she wanted revenge. But acting was a skill Jade excelled at. There was no way a newbie like Tori Vega was going to mess her up.

" _You eat your pants!" She panicked, "wait!"_

 _Sikowitz shook his head, amusement clearly written on his face, "sorry Jade, the next letter was-"_

" _F I know!" Jade hollered._

"Jade!" Beck called after her, quickly striding down the hall. "Jade, come on, just talk to me."

"You kissed her!" Jade growled turning to face him. "You just kissed her. You could've said no. It wouldn't have ruined the scene."

"It meant nothing." Beck replied. "Really, babe, you know how I feel about you." He reached down and grabbed her hand, "I was only acting. It was nothing."

"I hate her."

"Jade-"

"Stop." Jade said quickly, "I've made up my mind, it's not going to change." She pulled her hand away to make her way to lunch, "I want to eat alone."

"Hey," Beck said, sidestepping over to meet her eyes, "are we okay?"

"Oh, just peachy!" Jade snapped.

But she honestly thought they might not be. Robbie, Andre, Cat and Beck all seemed to be liking Tori more than her. Sure the girl was nicer and Jade was for the most part was bitter, but she had a personality. And she'd do anything for her friends. They all knew that. Didn't they?

Later during lunch Jade was still mentally kicking herself because she had messed that up. "How did I screw up?" She mumbled as she jabbed her fork into the salad that was currently occupying her tray. It was unbelievable that Tori had beat her. She normally aced acting challenges.

"Hey!" A chirpy voice greeted as the table shook a little and Cat sat down, "where's Beck?"

Jade just glared, "I don't know." She said.

Cat continued to smile as she opened her bottled water and took a drink, "you almost beat her," she tried.

Jade just continued her glare, if she did it enough maybe Cat would leave. "Go sit with Robbie." She said eyeing the lonely boy at another table.

"But Rex doesn't like me." Cat pouted.

"Then rip his head off!"

There was a moment of silence before Cat said, "that's a little mean."

Jade shrugged, "well, I'm not a nice person."

"Beck seems to think you are," the red head pointed out.

"Why are you here?" Jade questioned.

Cat thought about it a moment before saying, "because you're my best friend!"

Jade sighed, because she really wasn't expecting that answer. It was surprising how long it took her to come up with her comeback because it usually only took her a second to respond. However, she finally shot something back, "well…go be friends with Tori."

Cat smiled, "I am friends with Tori, but I'll always be better friends with you."


	2. The Bird Scene

**Finally a second chapter in Jade's POV! Don't worry, if you're waiting for Cat's update it should be up soon...hope you enjoy this if anyone is still reading!**

* * *

 _"Betsy, Betsy! That animal's delicious flesh can keep us all alive for another week!" Jade spoke within an accent, trying to convince Cat's character to give up her pig for the benefit of everyone._

 _"I don't wanna be alive without Pontsy! He is everything to me that my daddy never was, and I'll be d-" Cat was interrupted as a small plastic ball connected with her face and knocked her down._

 _Jade turned to face their crazy teacher, "Sikowitz!?" She asked bewildered._

 _The teacher looked on with the most serious expression, "what?" He asked like he had done nothing._

 _Cat jumped up with her hand cupping her face, bumping into Jade. "You hit me in the face with a ball!" She complained._

" _Oh, come on." Sikowitz started, "a truly great actor can stay in the scene no matter what's happening around her."_

 _Cat didn't care, "but it really hurt!" However as soon as the bell rang she seemed to forget the whole thing as she jumped excitedly, "ooh, lunch yay!"_

Jade glanced at her friend with a roll of her eyes before she collected her things and moved toward the Asphalt Café for lunch. "Hey do you have plans tonight?" Beck wondered as he caught Jade walking past his locker.

"Um…" Jade paused. She didn't really have plans, but she was still a little bitter of the kiss her boyfriend had shared with Tori. "Yeah, actually Cat's coming over to my house to practice the play."

Beck looked a little disappointed by the answer, but he shrugged it off, "that's cool. Maybe I could come over later?"

Jade shrugged, "yeah, maybe." She said a quick thanks as the boy held the door open for her and then snatched his hand while they passed a few other girls.

They were staring at him.

They always stared at him.

Beck seemed to pick up on her jealousy because he squeezed her hand tightly. "Hey, do you want coffee?" He wondered. "I could go to Skybucks and grab some."

That made Jade brighten a little, "would you?"

"Absolutely, babe." He smiled.

Beck walked with her the rest of the way to the food truck before he leaned in to kiss her cheek. "I'll be back. Grab me something?"

"What do you want?"

"Surprise me." Beck told her before he pulled out some cash. "Here."

"I can pay for it." Jade told him quickly.

Beck smirked with a small shake of his head, "I got this." He told her. "Save your money for something better."

He was a true gentleman, he never let her pay for anything, though she's tried many times, Beck never allowed it. Sometimes it frustrated her, she had money she could afford to pay for a dinner or two, she just guessed Beck liked the idea of taking care of her.

The problem with that is Jade's gotten used to taking care of herself with her parents' divorce, they're equal love for her brother and they're even more equal love of ignoring her.

"What can I get you buddy?" Festus, the owner of the food truck wondered.

"Uh, can I have a salad?" Jade wondered, "but I don't want any dressing and could you also hold the tomato? And I guess, a chicken wrap too?"

Festus nodded as he reached around to grab some food, he handed the plastic containers over to Jade who handed him the money Beck had given her before grabbing her change. "You're welcome buddy!" Festus called after her.

"Yeah, thanks." She replied quietly before she took a quick seat at the first empty table and flipped the top off of her food.

"Hey, hey." Cat smiled as sliding into the seat across from her.

Jade looked up before she continued to eat her food. "Hey." She returned.

Cat opened her food package, "my face hurts." She whispered sadly looking at her salad.

Jade looked up again, "yeah, well it is a little red."

Cat dropped her fork and pressed her hand against her cheek, "what! Why?" She seemed genuinely confused.

Jade shrugged, "because you were hit in the face with a ball." She stated obviously.

The red-head relaxed, "oh, yeah." She said before her eyes moved around the area. "Why is Beck sitting over there?" She asked, pointing over to Robbie and Andre.

Jade shrugged again, "because he wanted too." She told her. "We don't do _everything_ together you know."

Her eyes darted over to her boyfriend who had two cups of coffee and no food in front of him. She guessed he'd got pulled to sit with the boys on his way back to her.

"You coming over after school?" Jade wondered, shooting Cat a glance before she started eating again.

Cat smiled, "Sure why?"

"Figured we could run lines. Sikowitz said he wanted us to be out of the book tomorrow."

"Oh, yeah!" Cat practically screamed, "that was the assignment…yeah I'll be over."

Cat turned back to her food and Jade watched her for a minute. She wasn't really sure why Cat was sitting with her. Yeah, they were friends there was no doubt about that, but she also knew that Cat and Tori were getting close with each other.

Stupid Tori.

Jade was sure that girl was trying to take everything away from her. Starting with Beck and Cat.

"Do you think she's figured out 'The Bird Scene' yet?"

Cat raised her eyes in confusion. "Who?"

"Tori." Jade told her.

Her friend seemed lost before saying, "probably not. She's not as smart as you."

Jade frowned, "what does that have to do with—no wait, you're probably right."

Cat grinned before leaning back in to eat her food.

"Hey." Beck greeted, sliding onto the stool next to his girlfriend. He pushed a cup of coffee in front of her. "Two sugars." He smiled, brushing a hand through his hair before he grabbed the unopened package of food, "this mine?"

"Yeah. Thanks." Jade raised the drink to her lips, "ugh, it's cold."

"Sorry." Beck said, "Andre and Robbie pulled me over to their table and wouldn't let me go."

"You're forgiven." Jade said, "at least for this."

"Cool." Beck smiled, reaching to grab his wrap before saying, "wait, what am I not forgiven for?"

Cat raised her head, "you're not fighting are you?"

Jade scrunched her brow. Was that excitement in her voice? "No." She watched Cat's shoulders fall a little, but didn't give it a second thought.

"What am I not forgiven for?" Beck repeated.

Jade shrugged sending him a wicked smile over her shoulder.

" _Oh, come on!" Tori begged. "How am I supposed to do the scene right if no one will tell me what I did wrong? I thought you guys were my friends."_

 _Jade looked at her with amusement, "I'm not your friend." She told her before dragging Beck over to the vending machines._

" _I was hoping we could be more than friends. Hmm? Hmm?" Rex informed._

" _Ugh, it's so gross how he's always hitting on every girl." Cat complained._

" _I never hit on you." Rex implied._

" _What's that supposed to mean!" Cat exclaimed._

" _You guys! My problem." Tori said._

" _Number one rule of 'The Bird Scene,'" Beck started as he and Jade made their way back to the group, "no one's allowed to help you."_

" _No one." Rex stated._

" _So, this is what you did with your locker?" Jade wondered; changing the subject._

 _Tori smiled, "yeah, see it's, it's a dry erase board with a bunch of colorful pens in a convenient cup. So, whoever wants to can write or draw whatever they want."_

" _But, you're supposed to decorate it yourself." Beck said._

 _Cat nodded, "it's a Hollywood Arts tradition."_

 _Jade snatched one of the pens from the cup and started writing 'stupid' in-between the words 'Tori's' and 'Locker' on the board._

 _"Well, what's wrong with letting other people be expressive on my locker?" Tori wondered._

 _"Well, for one thing, they can do that!" Robbie pointed out, directing Tori to her locker._

 _The girl read the message on the board as Jade and Beck walked away, "yeah! Yeah, well, my locker's smarter than your locker!" She hollered out._

"I've decided you're forgiven." Jade said into her Pearphone as she turned her car into a driveway.

"Am I?" Beck wondered, "what exactly were you mad at me for?"

"Kissing Tori." Jade admitted. She parked the car and glanced at her brother. "Well, go on." She said away from the speaker.

"I'm scared."

Jade frowned, "to walk up to the door?"

"What?" Beck wondered.

"I'm talking to my brother." Jade replied into the phone. "Come on, just go."

Her brother frowned, "will you please walk with me?"

"Ugh!" Jade rolled her eyes and unbuckled her seatbelt. "God, you are such a child. It's literally like thirteen steps away."

She heard her boyfriend chuckle as she took her brother's hand and walked with him toward the door to their father's house.

"So have you decided if I'm coming over tonight?" Beck asked while Jade reached out to ring the doorbell.

"I don't know." She replied, "I guess it all depends on when Cat goes home."

"Ah. I see…well, you'll call and let me know?"

Jade was nodding even though Beck couldn't see it. "Yeah…I gotta go." She said, bidding him goodbye before pushing the doorbell in again.

The door swung open after the third ring of the doorbell. "Finally." Jade huffed with a roll of her eyes.

"I told you to just come in!" Her father snapped glancing down at his son, before darting up to Jade, "what are you doing here?"

"Don't worry, dad I can't stay." Jade replied quickly, "hate to disappoint and all, I know how much you wanted me too."

Her father frowned, grabbing his son's shoulder and pulling him inside. "Did you want something?" He asked his daughter.

Jade frowned, her eyes darting to her brother who shook his head. "No." Jade told him, "nothing."

"Good. I expect you here at nine tomorrow evening to pick him up."

"Sure." Jade said before her eyes found her brother, "have fun."

As the door clicked shut behind her, Jade felt her eyes watering. _Don't cry_. She thought. _You don't cry._ She told herself. It didn't matter. Who cares that her father hates her? _You don't need him._ And she didn't. She'd be fine without him. She climbed back into her car and glanced back to the house in front of her. Mindlessly she found her phone and glanced back to her contacts.

Her finger hovered over a name, but she decided against calling.

Jade tossed her phone onto the passenger seat and glanced into the mirror, to wipe away the tears that had escaped before making sure her makeup was unfazed.

With one final glance at the house she pulled out of the driveway and headed off toward her house.

Fifteen minutes later she pushed the door to her room open and watched Cat swing her legs as they dangled over the edge of her bed.

Her heart did a little jump and it caused Jade to frown.

That was new.

Without giving it a second though Jade fell onto the bed next to her, "mom said you were here." She whispered.

"I didn't touch anything, I swear." Cat defended, seemingly startled.

Jade sat up slowly, "what?"

She and Cat shared a look before Cat started to giggle. Jade couldn't help her continued frown before she rolled her eyes and laid back down, "come on." She said, grabbing her friends and tugging on it gently.

Cat laid down next to her, her brow furrowed as she glanced to the taller girl, "you okay?"

"I'm…I'm a little sad." Jade admitted quietly.

Cat frowned, "why?"

"It's my dad." Jade told her.

"Do you wanna talk about it?"

"No."

And she didn't. That's why she didn't click on Cat's name when it came up on her contact list. That's why she tossed her phone onto the other seat as she pulled out of her dad's driveway. Because she didn't want to talk about it.

Cat would listen. She knew that. Her friend was good for that. She'd listen and speak if she was asked too. She understood the trouble Jade had with her family. At least to an extent.

Jade had never really let her know how badly it got to her. And she wasn't about to now.

Even if she knew Cat was open to it.

"Okay." Cat told her. "We can just lay here if you want? Or I can go so you can be alone?"

"No stay." Jade told her. "I want you to stay."

"Then that's what I'll do." Cat smiled.

 **Where are you? It's lunch and they're serving chocolate cake.  
-Jade**

She expected Cat to be first in line for the cake today, that's how it usually was on the days they had chocolate cake. She'd sneak her way up to the front and get like three pieces. But today she wasn't first in line, she wasn't in the line at all. And when Jade had got her own food and turned to the tables the red-haired girl was nowhere to be found.

 **Aw, I love chocolate cake.**

 **-Cat**

Jade read the text quickly before typing a reply.

 **I know, that's why it's weird that you're not here. Where are you?**

 **-Jade**

 **Tori handcuffed me to the stair railing. :(**

 **-Cat**

 **What!  
-Jade**

 **She wanted me to tell her about The Bird Scene. But don't worry, I kept quiet.**

 **-Cat**

Jade read that message again before her eyes darted around the café and she spotted Tori sitting with Andre and Robbie. She was laughing, like she didn't even care at all that she handcuffed her supposed 'friend' to the stairs. Jade shoved her phone into her pocket. "Here!" She said shoving her food into Beck's hands.

"Where are you going?" Beck wondered.

"I gotta help Cat."

"Help her what?" Beck was concerned. "Is she okay?"

"She's fine." Jade snapped, "Tori's a jerk."

It didn't take her long to reach the staircase and when she did Cat jumped to her feet. "Jade! Jade! Can you help me-" She stopped as Jade walked past her though.

Jade reached her locker and quickly tore the door open and grabbed a pair of pliers before she slammed the door shut and walked back over to the stairs.

Without a word Jade took the pliers and moved them along the handcuff's chain until they broke apart, one half still on Cat's wrist and the other around the stair rail.

"Thanks!" Cat exclaimed going in to hug her savior.

Jade however stepped away, "no." she said, to which Cat nodded.

A minute later Tori ran through the hall with a key, "Cat!" She hollered out, "Cat! I'm so sorry I forgot to undo-" She stopped as she noticed Cat was free. "Oh, no." She whispered.

Jade tore the key out of her grip and unlocked the half-cuff that was circling Cat's wrist before she handed both the key and the cuff back to Tori.

"What did you—but—my dad's—cop—and..." The Vega girl trailed off.

Jade just shrugged, "that sounds like a personal problem to me." She said before pulling Cat away from the younger Vega sister and heading back toward the Asphalt Cafe.

"I told Tori you said she was a jerk." Beck filled her in as she took a seat next to him. He slid her food over to her and unwrapped a fork before giving it to her. "I think she caught on to what you were talking about cause she took off that way."

"She's still a jerk." Jade told him. "She handcuffed Cat to the stairs just because she wouldn't help her with 'The Bird Scene'."

"And she gave me Juju Peppers." Cat filled them in. "They were so hot! But at least she gave me some water."

Jade watched Cat eye her cake before she slid the piece over to her, "here just eat mine."

"Are you sure?"

"Why not?"

" _Ahh, ahh," Tori interrupted them all, stopping their objections to her locker. "I believe in my own choice, and I don't need approval from others." She smiled._

" _Ah, the young female has learned the ways of 'The Bird Scene.'" Beck smiled._

" _I still think it's dull." Jade pointed out._

" _Yeah?" Tori wondered, "well, then, maybe I should_ Make It Shine _." And she pushed the button on her locker to show them the affects._

 _For a moment they were all shocked._

" _Okay, are we going to eat or what?" Jade asked annoyed._

" _Oh, yay, food." Cat said completely forgetting about Tori's impressive locker and following the other girl._

" _Come with?" Beck asked Tori._

" _Sure," Tori smiled._

 _Jade glanced back at the pair suspiciously_. She was right wasn't she? Tori Vega was slowly slipping into her group and she was trying to replace her.

Beck was starting to befriend her and it probably wouldn't be long until Tori made a move on him. And then she'd take her friends.

* * *

 **Thanks for reading, what'd you think?**


	3. Stage Fighting

**I actually wrote this one out a while ago, so I got a quick update for you!**

* * *

 _Jade walked into the theater with the rest of the students. A little caught by surprise to find Andre, Beck and their teacher wrestling around with Tori and Russ._

" _Whoa! Woah!" Andre cried as he helped the teacher and Beck pull Tori off of the guy._

" _What are you doing?" Their teacher called out._

" _That guy was beating up Beck!"_

" _Oh, you poor thing." Jade said stepping over to Beck and glancing at Tori._

" _We were practicing." Beck stated._

" _This is Russ." The teacher replied._

" _I'm Russ!"_

 _The teacher pushed the guy back a little, patting his shoulder. "He's a professional stuntman, I invited him here to teach you guys about stage fighting."_

 _Jade glanced at Beck, who she locked arms with, "and now Tori says: what's stage fighting?"_

" _I wasn't gonna say that." Tori shoots back before turning to Andre and quickly asking him what it is._

" _Fake fighting that looks real. Like for a play or a movie."_

" _Oh."_

" _I took a class with him last summer." Beck shared._

" _Well, it looked like he was hurting you." Tori defended._

" _Why do you care?" Jade bit back._

" _Cause I figured he already suffers enough pain dating you." Tori told her bluntly._

 _Jade ripped her arm away from Beck, "you wanna see pain!"_

" _Hey!" Beck interjects quickly, pulling Jade back. "Why don't we go sit over there?" He pointed over to some chairs as he guided Jade over so they could take a seat._

"So that's Russ?" Jade wondered.

Beck smiled, "yeah, you're gonna love him he's a lotta fun."

Jade nodded as she watched Russ stand around with the teacher waiting for the rest of the class to pile into the room and take their seats.

"Sorry, I'm late!" Cat exclaimed she tossed her bag down with her cardigan and rushed up to the front of the room, "did you start yet?"

"No." Russ shook his head, "couldn't really start without you."

"Right!" Cat shook her head, "duh, that'd be a little weird."

Jade chuckled, exchanging a glance with Beck. Their teacher waved his hands up to the front, "okay class. This is Russ, he's a professional stuntman. He's worked on dozens of movies and TV shows and I've invited him here to explain to you how to do some stunt acting." He motioned over to the guy.

Russ smiled, "okay, hi." He greeted. "So basically I'm here today to show you how fight scenes get played out in the business a-"

"Do you like being a stuntman?" Andre wondered.

Russ nodded, "yes, I do. It's fun."

"Why is Cat up there?" Tori wondered.

At the sound of her name Cat glanced at the rest of the class with a smile, "hi!" She waved.

"She's part of my demonstration." Russ explained. "I asked her to work through a scene with me." He motioned to Cat before saying, "to start off with when you're doing a fight scene I need you all to know you have to be careful. Accidents are rare, but they do happen and more often than not it has to do with a lack of paying attention. Know your cues and focus on what you're doing. Secondly, when you're staging a fight you need to pay attention to details. Pay attention to angles and focus on making sure it looks real."

Taking a step back Russ said, "if you notice now, there's a distance between me and Cat."

"There is." Cat encouraged.

Russ nodded, "so if we were to start the scene here and I were to swing it would be too obvious. There's too much distance between us that even with the sound affect." He nodded toward the teacher. "You could see the air space between us. _Now I can throw a punch at Cat, like this," Russ started before he threw the punch._

 _Cat gasped excepting a hit to come across her face but it didn't, so she smiled._

 _"It's easy to see that my fist didn't connect with her face," Russ continued smiling._

 _Cat still smiling herself, "thank you!"_

 _Russ looked at her a moment before continuing with his lesson, "but if we stage it from a different angle, then..." He paused whispering, "like I showed you," to Cat who nodded along. "Sound affect ready?" He asked._

 _"All set," their teacher announced._

 _"To the audience or camera, it'll look like this." He did the punch adding the sound affect and Cat pretended to get hit._

 _As she stood straight again the girl looked at her hands seeing no blood she smiled and jumped out in front of the class, "I'm okay everyone!" She cried cheerfully locking eyes with Jade's. Russ raised her hand and everyone clapped for them._

" _All right." Their teacher stood up to join Russ as Cat returned to her seat. "I'm gonna pair you guys up and each team will work with Russ this week to prepare a fight scene."_

" _I thought his name was Steve." Andre interrupted._

" _He does look like a Steve." Tori agreed before everyone chimed in._

" _Hey, you're right."_

" _Yeah."_

" _My name is Russ!"_

" _Okay." Their teacher laughed, "and on Friday you will all perform your fight scenes here in front of the class. Now the pairs will be; Beck and Cat, Andre and Gwen, Darren and Jess, Tori and Jade-"_

" _Tori and who!" Tori interrupted shooting Jade a look._

 _Jade leaned forward a bit to send Tori a wicked smile, batting her eyebrows before the bell rang and she stood up with Beck._

" _Hey partner," She greeted, stepping over to Tori who had been talking to the teacher. "I can't wait for our fight." She took a step back before correcting herself, "scene."_

Jade grabbed Beck's hand and pulled him toward their next class, "have fun working with Cat." She whispered before the redhead jumped out in front of them.

"Hey, hey!" She looked at Jade and then at Beck, "what are we gonna do for our scene?"

"I uh, I haven't thought about it yet." Beck told her.

Cat smiled, "oh, well I've thought about it a little, I was thinking like you could be a ranch farmer-"

"A ranch farmer?" Jade interrupted.

Beck shook his head, "Cat I'll just text you later," he told her before he leaned down and kissed Jade's cheek, "I'll save you a seat."

"Get me some coffee." Jade said.

Beck just nodded along.

"Is he mad at me?" Cat wondered, "did I do something wrong?"

Jade looked at her a moment, contemplating whether or not she would lie to torture her, she decided against it however saying, "no, he's just got a headache, not feeling well."

"Oh," Cat said sadly as she continued to walk alongside Jade.

"You know, I'd rethink the whole ranch farmer thing though." Jade said after a moment.

Cat furrowed her eyebrows before saying, "okay, hey are we sitting together at lunch?"

Jade shook her head, "not today, Beck just wants to sit with me."

"Oh, okay." Cat smiled as they reached the Grub Truck line.

"So other than ranch farming do you have any ideas?" Jade wondered.

Cat glanced over to her as the line moved forward, "I don't." She said sadly.

Jade chuckled, "hey, no worries, we just got the assignment today you've still got some time."

Cat shrugged, "but if we did the ranch farmer it could be like a scene where Beck wants to marry the farmer's daughter and they get in a fight over it."

Jade considered the idea for a moment, "yeah, I guess that's kind of good."

"Do you know what you're going to do?"

"I don't."

"Hey, Jade," Tori caught her attention as she passed by the line, "I talked to Russ and he said we could meet him after school today if you're not busy."

"Okay." Jade nodded, "works for me." As Tori gave her a confirmation nod and walked away Jade glanced back to Cat, "I guess she's already figured it out?"

Cat only shrugged.

* * *

"So since we're doing a fight scene what kind of story do you guys wanna go with?" Russ wondered.

Tori shrugged her eyes bouncing over to Jade, "I'm okay with anything."

"I bet you are." Jade smirked.

Tori scrunched her brow together, "what does that even mean? I really don't care what story we go with."

"How about one of you play a robber and the other can be like…an old lady?" Russ suggested.

"Why would someone mug an old lady? That's terrible." Tori frowned.

" _Maybe_ the old lady is just a little on the annoying side." Jade replied with an eye roll.

"Okay." Russ said, clapping his hands together, "where do we wanna start?"

"Well do we have to create a whole scene or just the fight?" Tori wondered.

"Just establish a little dialogue just to explain to your audience where the scene stands. But we don't need too much talking. The focus is on the fight."

Tori nodded, "okay, that's cool…so uh…what are we gonna do?"

"Here's what I was thinking the old lady—whoever that may be—you'll walk across the floor say a couple words and then the mugger will come over only to have the lady swing at her with a cane."

"Ooh." Tori winced, "that sounds dangerous."

Again Jade found herself rolling her eyes, "it's acting Vega, nothing bad is gonna happen."

"But-"

"If it makes you feel better I'll play the mugger."

Tori watched her warily before muttering, "well, it would make sense."

"That can't be the whole scene." Russ jumped in, "it'd be too short."

Jade nodded walking over to the open area of the theatre, "okay, so I come up behind Tori and—Vega come over here."

The girl seemed hesitant but she finally shuffled herself over to Jade. "Turn around." Jade directed. Tori sent her a nervous glance but she did as she was told. "You'll be walking around with a cane." Jade told her. "So act like an old lady."

Tori crouched down and wobbled along the area, Jade snuck up behind her, "give me your money!" She hissed.

"Oh, I don't think so." Tori shot back quickly turning around, pretending to swing the invisible cane at Jade.

Jade fully committed and fell to the floor. "Great!" Russ smiled, "and now what do you wanna do?"

"I could swing at her again." Tori suggested raising her 'cane' to knock against Jade again.

"Right, but I'll grab it like this." Jade told her pretending to catch it mid-swing. "I'll kick you down."

Tori nodded, "okay." She let go of the 'cane' as Jade pretending to pull it away and collapsed to the floor. "Where do we go from here?"

Jade paused, continuing to crouch from where she was. "This is gonna be some energized old lady." She said.

Her joke caused Russ to laugh, "yeah, it's probably all that jello."

"It's high in sugar." Tori nodded.

Russ was nodding along, "I guess the question would be who you're wanting to win the fight? Does the old lady get away or the mugger?"

"Why would we want the mugger to get away?" Tori asked, "that'd be stupid."

"I've seen worse." Russ told her.

Jade motioned to the other girl, "for Tori's benefit we'll have the old lady win." She moved to wrap her arms around her legs as she sat on the floor.

"Okay." Russ said, "so once Tori's on the floor with you, you could try to snatch her bag and when you get up to run she could either trip you or tackle you."

"Tripping will work."

"So you'll wrestle along for the bag and once you're on the ground she could swing the bag around and knock you out."

"Okay." Tori was nodding as she kneeled in front of Jade, "so from here you try to take my bag?"

"Yes." Jade nodded, "and to stop me you'll trip me—actually what if she ripped the bag from my grasp and swings at me then?" She shrugged, "I'll already be in her face so it'll work that way too."

Their instructor was nodding along in agreement before he asked, "is there any kind of breakaway props you'd like to use?"

Tori glanced at Jade with her brows raised in question.

"No. I don't think we'll need any." Jade told him.

"Okay." Russ said clapping his hands together, "I think we've got ourselves a scene. I wanna see you run through it if you don't mind see what needs the most work."

Jade jumped to her feet and shook herself down before Tori joined her. "Don't hit me." She said.

"I'm not going to hit you Tori, would you just turn around."

Tori still seemed a little nervous but she did turn around. Crouching down she clutched her back and moved slowly, pretending to hold a cane. "Oh, here I am, just a little old lady trying to cross the street. I really hope no one comes out to hurt me."

Jade rolled her eyes as she watched Tori take a few steps forward before she came up behind her and said, "give me all your money!"

"Take that!" Tori exclaimed turning around and swinging her 'cane.'

The pair breezed through the scene twice before Russ said he thought they'd done enough for the day. He was preparing to meet up with the next pair; Darren and Jess, who had stepped into the theatre just as their scene was ending. "That was really great, guys." He told them, "if we could just meet again tomorrow to rehearse once more, we'll add the sound affects then, but it was really good."

* * *

"No." Jade said, shaking her head as Beck moved to dip a French fry in her shake. "No."

Beck smiled at her, ignoring her direction and dipping the salty fry in before popping it into his mouth.

"I hate you." Jade told him with a smirk.

"Sure you do." Beck told her.

Jade's eyes floated across the café where Tori, Andre and Cat were sitting. "Did you work on your scene with Cat at all?" She wondered.

Beck nodded as he leaned up to rest his elbows on the table. "We video chatted a little last night, coming up with our ideas. We're gonna meet up with Russ after school."

"Are you doing the ranch farmer thing?"

Beck laughed, "no."

"Well, then what are you doing?"

"It's a surprise."

"Wha—I'll tell you what me and Tori are doing and we'll be even."

"How's that going, by the way?" Beck asked grabbing another fry to dip in her shake again.

Jade watched him take a bite of the fry as she said, "its going."

"And that means?"

"I think she's nervous. I don't think her brain can absorb the meaning of stage fighting."

"Maybe she just thinks you're actually going to hit her."

Jade frowned, "is that what you think?"

"That's not what I said." Beck shook his head, "I didn't say that."

"But you implied it."

Beck put his head in his hands and rubbed at his temple, "you know I already have a headache I don't need to add to it fighting with you."

Jade shook her head, "were you implying that I was going to hit her or not?"

"I don't think you are." Beck told her, "but I—I can see where her concern comes in." When Jade gaped at him he shrugged, "it's no secret that you don't particularly like her."

"Right." Jade nodded, swinging around on the bench and grabbing her bag.

"Where are you going?"

"I'm gonna get you some aspirin." Jade said.

Without another word Jade stalked off into the halls of Hollywood Arts only to be followed by Cat, "hey," she greeted as she caught up with her, "is Beck still sick?"

"Yes, I'm getting him aspirin from the nurse." Jade said as she continued on her walk.

"What were you guys talking about?"

"What?"

"Well," Cat started as she opened the door for the two of them, "Tori's all worried that you're going to beat her up."

"Really?" Jade wondered, "she really thinks I'm going to spoil my grade just so I can get a good punch in?"

Cat nodded, "why are you not?"

Jade shook her head, "of course not!" She rolled her eyes, "Tori is ridiculous."

"Oh," Cat took a drink of her soda looking at her friend, "I just thought-"

"I get it." Jade said as they reached the nurses office, "I'll see you later." She told her.

"Wait! Jade!" Cat tried, but Jade ignored her, pushing into the room.

They were all against her. Everyone thought she had a trick up her sleeve. Everyone just assumed because she's a little bitter around Tori (more bitter than normal) she was gonna try and get in a real punch or two. And the funny thing was that she wasn't going too. She'd rehearsed with Russ and Tori yesterday and that morning during study hall and everything had gone perfect. They'd timed everything perfectly. She was sure they were going to get an A.

But now she didn't care about that.

If they all expected her to do something, she might as well give them what they wanted.

So after she collected the aspirin from the nurse Jade made her way to the movie makeup classroom to grab some of the special effects makeup. She smirked when she found a small bottle of the fake blood and a set of grey, blue and black makeup.

"That'll be perfect." She whispered to herself.

Maybe since Tori was so caught in the fear of Jade hitting her she'd time her cane swing wrong and actually smack Jade in the face.

Maybe.

* * *

 _After Andre finished his scene with his partner the teacher announced that Tori and Jade were next. Tori stated that she'd be playing an old lady while Jade said she was a brutal mugger._

 _The teacher was about to tell them to start but Tori yelled the safe word, "Butternut!" out._

 _Jade rolled her eyes, "what!" She complained._

 _Tori said she was testing the safe word before they started their scene._

 _Tori said something for emphasis on what she was doing before she swung really hard._

 _"Ow!" Jade hollered out, collapsing to the floor._ As she was on her knees she dabbed some of the makeup she had hidden in her glove onto her eye.

 _Everyone in the room sat straight up shocked, hoping it was part of the scene._

 _"Butternut!" Jade yelled._

 _Beck and Russ were the first to start running to her. "Butternut!" The injured girl hollered out again._

 _As soon as they realized it was real everyone began getting up, they each jumped up concerned._

 _"She's bleeding!" Cat said shocked._

 _"Let me see, let me see!" Russ demanded as Jade turned to her boyfriend._

 _"You okay?" Beck asked his voice laced with concern as he examined his girlfriend's eye._

 _Cat looked around frantic, looking at Tori and Andre before looking back to Jade._

 _"No! Tori hit me in the face for real!" Jade said._

 _"No, I didn't." Tori objected as people started staring at her._

 _"Tell that to my bloody eye!" Jade hollered out, "Ow!" She turned to Beck._

 _"You better sit down," Russ said._

 _"Somebody grab a chair." The teacher directed._

 _Cat and Andre both moved to grab a chair as Tori ran and got the one in front of the curtains. "Here!" She said smiling proud that she had helped, however as Jade tried to sit down the chair broke on impact._

 _"That was a break away chair!" Russ yelled._

 _And at a loss for words Tori yelled, "Ahh, butternut!"_

"Here!" Cat hollered out scooting a chair a little forward before she joined Beck in guiding Jade to the chair to sit down.

"I don't need to sit down." Jade said, trying to stand back up, "I need to see the nurse."

"She's right." The teacher voiced, "her eye does look pretty bad, we should take her to the nurse."

 _"Jade you know I didn't hit you. I swung but I missed."_

 _Jade removed the ice pack from her eye, "look Tori..." She trailed off as she started to faint and everyone reached to catch her._

 _"We gotta get her to the nurse." The teacher said._

 _"But I didn't hit her!" Tori said again as everyone began moving to the door._

 _"Can someone call my mom?" Jade kind of shouted._

 _"I'll call your mom." Beck said as he grabbed his and Jade's bags._

 _"She doesn't need her mom," Tori said, "don't bother her mom!"_

 _"I gotta call her mom," Beck defended._

" _And I thought we were just starting to be friends." Jade said sadly, looking back to Tori._

" _But—I-I didn't…"_

Thankfully the nurse wasn't in her office when she arrived with their teacher and Russ. "We need to get back to class." The teacher stated, "are you okay waiting on your own?"

"Can Beck stay?" Jade asked, pressing the pack to her face.

The teacher frowned, as his eyes found Beck who was still standing in the hallway on the phone. "Yeah…I guess."

"Thanks." Jade said as Russ helped her to a chair.

"You're okay, though, right?" The guy asked.

"I'm good." Jade said, "I just feel a little woozy."

"Cat, could you go get her some water?"

"Sure." The redhead perked up, "I'll be right back." She told Jade before exiting the room.

Jade watched the teacher and Russ leave the room before she moved the icepack from her eye, she glanced in the mirror that was hanging on the wall. The fake blood was drying up on her face, she raised a hand and dabbed at it before looking to her fingers where a small trace of the blood was.

What was she gonna do now?

She was in the nurse's office with a fake wound, waiting for her boyfriend to call her mother in a non-emergency situation.

She really hadn't thought this through.

Jade glanced through the window in the door, noticing that Beck was still messing with his phone so she stood up and snatched a few of the makeup supplies from her bag and walked over to the mirror to apply it to her face.

She just had to keep it going for a little longer.

"What are you doing?" Beck asked.

"Oh! Uh," She turned away from the mirror hiding the makeup behind her body her eyes fell to the floor, "I-"

"Tori didn't really hit you." Beck said. "Did she?"

Jade sighed, "look, okay I—ugh!" She shook her head, "I'm horrible, okay, I know, but Tori frustrates me. And I…the opportunity was there."

"Jade." Beck sighed, "why-"

"I don't know!" She shot back before she crossed over to sit on the chair. "I don't why I did it, I just did."

"Well, what are you gonna do when the nurse arrives?" Beck asked, "she's gonna know it's not real. She's a nurse."

"I planned on sneaking out." Jade told him honestly.

They were silent for a moment before Jade finally said, "well, go on."

"What?"

Jade frowned, "go tell precious little Tori she's innocent."

"No." Beck said, stepping over and grabbing the makeup brush from her hand. He crouched down a little and raised the brush to her eye, "close." He demanded.

"What are you doing?"

"Helping you make it look like it's bruising."

"But-"

"Look, just because I don't agree with what you're doing doesn't mean I don't want to see it played through." He smirked, "but you owe me an explanation."

Jade was confused, "why would you help me?"

Beck shrugged, "you're my girlfriend. And I love you…even if you're crazy." He waved his hand, motioning for her to close her eye before Jade felt the brush move around her eye.

"You gotta hurry though." Jade said, "Cat's supposed to be bringing me water."

"Are you gonna tell her?" Beck wondered, his finger prodding a little at her face.

Jade could feel the gooey fake blood run a little down her eye. "Why would I tell her?" She glanced at him when he pulled away and shoved the makeup in his pocket.

"Cause she's your best friend and she'll be torn if she finds out you were lying to her."

Jade frowned, "I-"

"I got water!" Cat said, entering the room with a bottle raised in her hand.

"Thanks." Jade said, her eyes falling to Cat as she raised the icepack back to her eye.

"How do you feel?" The smaller girl wondered, collapsing into a chair.

Jade only shrugged, her eyes falling to Beck. "I'm gonna try your mom again." Beck said with a wink before stepping back outside.

"It looks really bad," Cat said.

Jade continued to press the icepack against her eye as she waited for the nurse to come back, or for Beck to come back in from calling her mom. "Yeah, well it is really bad, Tori hit me with a cane."

Cat stood up from her chair and walked over to the patient bed, as she reached out and touched Jade's eye as the ice pack was removed. The 'injured' girl jumped away, "it's still bleeding." Cat commented.

Jade nodded, "yeah, cut's do that."

Cat sat next to her, "does it hurt?"

"No, not at all," Jade said sarcastically.

Cat frowned. "Did I do something wrong?"

Jade sighed, she really hated when Cat was sad, "no," she shook her head, "I just have something going on now, and it's not right."

"What's not right?" Cat asked.

Jade shook her head, "nothing, you won't—you wouldn't understand."

"Try me," Cat said, smiling softly, "try me."

She could tell her. Jade had finally settled on. It was Cat, there was absolutely no way that Cat would choose Tori over her. She'd stick by her side no matter what. She felt herself smile as she tried to come up with the right way to say it, "if I-you-"

"Hey, your mom's on her way." Beck said as he stepped inside.

Jade nodded, "okay," but she said nothing more to Cat.

"What were you gonna say?" Cat wondered, her eyes falling back to Jade.

"Oh, nothing." Jade said, shaking her head. "It was nothing."

Her friend smiled at her taking a stand, "I should probably get back to class." She motioned out the door, "I assume you're in good hands." She waved toward Beck before bidding them goodbye and heading out the door.

"Did you really call my mom?"

"I did." Beck said, "the first time it went straight to voicemail…and the second time I told her it was all an elaborate prank from you. So she'll be really angry when you get home."

"Oh, thanks." Jade told him sarcastically.

"Well, anything I can do to help." He laughed, "come on. We should probably go before the nurse does actually show up."

Jade was still a little surprised by his support for her faking the injury, but she didn't argue with his reasoning and was quick to follow him out the door.

The plan worked for a two days. Jade got up in the mornings and dabbed the special effects makeup around her eye to form a bruise and she'd sneak off to the bathroom every few hours to fix it up again and make sure it wasn't fading.

Beck helped her a few times and waited patiently while she explained her reasoning. She wasn't really sure if he believed her and she knew that he was upset about it. But he never once made a move to tell anyone.

She frowned leaning closer to the mirror. She grabbed the sponge from on top the counter and brushed it into the makeup.

It was a bad idea.

Faking an injury from her stage fight with Tori was a little outrageous but she couldn't help it, the girl was infuriating.

Little Miss Tori gets accepted into Hollywood Arts without ever actually auditioning. Lane; their counselor likes to claim the song she did at the showcase was an audition but Jade knows it wasn't official.

Tori waltz's in sings a catchy tune and everyone seems so attached to her.

It was nauseating.

And Jade's seen the way Tori slipped so easily into her group of friends. How comfortable everyone was around her.

It sucked and Jade was scared. Tori was pretty and she was talented but most of all she was nice, her friendly smile and her pretty face was getting her everything she wanted and Jade was scared.

So when Tori swung the cane Jade fell to the floor crying out in pain. It wasn't the best plan, she'd really only came up with it before class and she did feel guilty, but she was enjoying the aftermath.

For now people were frightened. They were saying Tori had anger problems.

And they were concerned about Jade.

Jade finished dabbing the makeup on her eye before clamping the case shut and shoving it back into her bag and exiting the bathroom. The regret stayed with her as she stood in line at the Grub Truck to grab her salad. And when she took a seat and popped the top off of her food she didn't even feel like eating. Maybe all of this was just too much work? _She was prodding through her salad when Beck greeted her, "Hey. How you feeling?"_

" _My eye hurts."_

" _Oh, yeah. Which one?" He smirked knowingly._

 _Jade glared at him with a fake smile of her own, "cute." She said. "I want coffee."_

" _What's the magic word?"_

 _Jade rolled her eyes, "get me some coffee." Beck wasn't having it though, "please?"_

" _Actually," Beck smiled, "the magic word was lotion, but I'll accept your please because you got a boo-boo eye."_

 _Jade shared a smile with him as he stood back up to get her drink. "Two sugars."_

" _I know what to do." He replied._

" _Trina, wait!" Jade glanced up to see Robbie standing at a table hollering at the older Vega sister who was walking away from the table. "Baby!"_

Jade watched Robbie plop back down in his seat frustrated over his rejection, before she catches sight of Cat.

For a quick second they make eye-contact and she thought Cat was going to come and sit by her. And she wanted her too, she wanted to be honest and admit the truth. She should've just told her to begin with.

But Cat doesn't sit with her.

 _Cat sits with Robbie._

And as Jade continued to poke around her salad she can't control her gaze as it wanders back toward the table across the way.

She's surprised when she sees _Cat kiss Robbie_ , and she also doesn't know why it makes her feel a little weird. But she doesn't have time to mull it over because there's something going on behind her. _She hears some boys snicker and it caught her attention so she turned around._

 _The girl behind her gasped, standing up, "ugh, you guys, you're so dead!" She stated, turning over and grabbing her drink moving to throw it in their face. One quick side-step and the beverage was splashed into Jade's face instead._

 _Jade stood up quickly, fully prepared to blow up on her._

" _Oh, my God! Jade, I'm so sorry." The girl said, "please don't destroy me socially!"_

 _Jade shook her head, remembering the makeup, she quickly touched her face._

" _I didn't mean t-"_

" _Just forget it!" Jade hollered before she grabbed her bag and dashed into the building._

She pressed her hand against her eye, and roamed around a few people before hearing Cat call out her name. "Jade!"

"Not now!" Jade hollered back as she pushed open the door looking for the faster route to the bathroom. Cat couldn't see her like this, she knew she'd be heartbroken.

"Jade!" Cat said again, cutting the girl off before she got any further, "are you okay?" She asked.

Jade looked around, trying her best not to blow up in front of the girl, as she held her eye she said, "yeah, of course I'm fine."

Cat glanced at her eye, her brow wrinkling, "did your bruise move?"

Jade shook her head, "no, of course not, bruises can't move."

Cat ignored her and pulled Jade's hand away, "it's fake?"

She sounded hurt.

"I-"

"It's been fake all along?"

Jade shook her head, "Cat, I-"

"The blood and the bruise and everything, you faked it all!"

"I'm sorry, I know it's bad but, just please..." She stopped, "you can't tell Tori."

"What's that supposed to mean!" Cat freaked before she ran away.

Jade wanted to follow her and make sure she was okay. She wanted to give the girl a proper explanation, but she didn't have time. If she was going continue with her plan she had to get to the nearest possible bathroom before anyone else found her out.

So instead of following Cat she turned back down the hallway, her hand pressed against her eye and she rushed off toward the main hallways.

" _Oh hey, Jade!" Andre called as the girl stalked past her, "Jade."_

" _I can't talk right now." Jade replied quickly, continuing on her mission to the bathroom._

" _Wait up," Andre said, "hey, Jade."_

" _What!?" She finally let out as he stopped in front of her._

" _Um…what's wrong with your eye?"_

" _Tori hit me with a cane remember." Jade said, looking down to the floor._

" _Yeah," Andre said reaching out to touch her face, "but I've never seen a black eye drip before." Jade frowned as the boy looked at his fingers. "This is makeup."_

 _Jade looked around guiltily._

" _Tori never hit you. Did she?"_

 _Jade shook her head, "I…" She couldn't come up with the words._

" _Fake black eye." Andre said, "fake blood."_

" _Ugh," Jade said finally giving up, "look, you cannot tell anyone about this. Especially Tori."_

 _Andre started backing up, "I won't." Jade watched him as she backed up to. A few steps between them and Andre called out, "Tori!"_

" _Shut up!" Jade jumped in, quickly moving to stop him._

" _Hey, Tori where are you?"_

" _Quiet!" Jade called chasing him up the stairs. "Please, stop!"_

" _Has anybody seen Tori?"_

" _Nope, nobody bother Tori. False alarm. He ate a bad taco!"_

Andre made a swift left turn, "Tori!" He called out again.

"Andre, please!" Jade begged.

The boy whipped around quickly, pausing in his venture causing Jade to stop abruptly, she dabbed at her eye and glanced at the makeup running on her fingers. "Why?" Andre asked. "Why'd you do this?"

"I—I don't know." She lied.

Andre frowned, "you know, I knew you were cold Jade, but I never actually thought you'd do something this bad."

Jade sighed, "look, I…I'm not gonna stop you." She finally said, "you wanna find Tori? I'm pretty sure I saw her head toward Lane's office."

Andre paused, his brow knitting together, "you're just gonna let me go?"

Jade shrugged, what was the point in fighting it anymore? Her secret was out, she took a step aside waving her arm in the direction of Lane's office. Without a second glance at her Andre dashed off toward the office to find Tori.

The front school doors opened, "Whoa!" Beck laughed as he caught sight of his girlfriend.

"I know." Jade said bitterly before she waved her hands around her face, "boom!"

Beck sipped on the coffee in his hand as she took a step toward him, "I wasn't gonna say anything."

"Oh, but you were thinking it." She said, snatching the second coffee from him and taking a quick drink. "So the damage is done."

"Hey, you had a good run." He told her.

Jade shrugged in agreement, as she pulled him off toward the bathroom. "It was pretty good, wasn't it?" Beck watched her expectantly before she sighed, "everyone expected me to do something."

"Explain, please?"

"Cat told me that Tori was freaking out. She thought I was going to actually hit her she was complaining about it at lunch…even you and Cat suspected I was going to hit her. So instead I made it look like she hit me."

"So what are you gonna do now?" Beck asked.

"What do you mean?"

"Well," Beck shrugged, "you know Tori's going to the Blackbox."

"She won't go to the Blackbox after Andre finds her. She'll turn me in and I'll get the failing grade and probably have to clean the theatre."

"So?" Beck shrugged, "why don't you just go to Lane yourself. Be the bigger person?"

"Ha." Jade said when they finally reached the bathroom, "you're funny." She told him before she handed him her coffee, "stay." She directed before she stepped into the bathroom to wash the makeup from her face.

Once she was dried up and effect makeup free she pushed back out of the bathroom and rejoined Beck who shared the news that Andre had told him, "Tori's not going to turn you in. She's still cleaning the Blackbox theatre."

"She's dumber than I thought." Jade mumbled.

"Jade." Beck said, "I think you should go help her. Or apologize at least."

Jade rolled her eyes, folding her arms across her chest, "if she wants to take the fall I'm not going to stop her."

"Jade-"

"I'm not going to talk about this anymore." Jade told him, "In fact I'm going to go home and change and then we're going to the movies."

She could tell he wanted too, but Beck didn't argue with her anymore.

She was ready to go home and get changed, but there was something she had to do first…

* * *

"Hi!" His chipper voice was nauseating but Jade stood her ground.

"Is Cat home?" She asked her friend's brother, her eyes darting behind him, glancing at the stairs that led to the floor Cat's room was on.

"She is." He nodded.

"Good." Jade said waiting for him to step aside and let her in and when he didn't she looked up quizzically, "are you going to let me in?"

"Oh, you wanna come inside?"

"Duh." She said as the boy finally stepped away.

Jade crossed through the doorway and without a second glance she dashed up the stairs of the Valentine's house and turned to her right at the top. When she reached the end of the hallway she raised her hand to knock on the door. She heard some light shuffling around in the room before Cat finally appeared in front of her.

"Hey," Jade said.

Cat stepped away allowing the other girl to come into her room, "hey."

It was quiet between them for a minute, because Jade wasn't quite sure where to begin and she assumed Cat was too mad to contribute. "I lied," Jade finally whispered, "it's bad and I do it sometimes. I know that Tori didn't deserve that, but this is who I am." She shrugged, "I'm a little damaged, but I am unique."

Cat nodded, "yeah."

"I'll do the right thing." Jade said.

"What's that?" Cat wondered sitting on her bed.

Jade stepped forward, "I'll tell her to turn me in...I'll talk to her."

Cat smiled, "I'm sorry I blew up at you."

Jade shrugged, "I'm sorry I lied to you." She sighed, "but I was gonna tell you, in the nurses office before Beck came in, I was gonna tell you."

"You were?" Cat asked.

"Yeah," Jade said, "you told me when Tori got here that I was your best friend, so I guess it's kind of good for me to act like it every once in a while."

Cat smiled, "aww, how sweet."

"Yeah, let's not talk about it." Jade smiled back, "I gotta go, Tori's working in the Blackbox, so I'll catch you later."

"Okay, bye."

Jade paused at Cat's bedroom door, "Cat?" She asked. She wanted to ask about the kiss she'd witness today.

"Yeah?" The redhead was looking at her with concerned eyes.

 _Just ask her._ Jade thought. "Um…never mind."

Cat frowned, but she didn't say anything more, allowing Jade to step out of her room and walk back down the stairs of the Valentine house.

 **I can't hang tonight. I'm gonna help Tori.  
-Jade**

 **I'm proud of you.  
-Beck**

 **Bleh!  
-Jade**

 **Bleh!  
-Beck**

 _Jade walked up behind Tori as the girl continued to scraped food from the wall. Catching the shadow on the wall Tori turned around and looked at her._

" _I don't get it." Jade finally said._

" _What?" Tori shook her head._

" _I know Andre told you that I faked everything…the blood, the black eye—what is that mac and cheese?" She wondered watching Tori scrape some yellow gunk from the wall._

" _Looks like it, right?" Derrek said._

 _Tori rolled her eyes standing up, "why are you here?"_

" _Why are you here? Why didn't you tell on me?"_

 _Tori sighed, "cause we both go to school here and it's not gonna be much fun for either one of us if we're fighting all the time."_

" _So." Jade said as Tori moved to another wall, "you're just gonna let me get away with it?" She took a few steps forward, "you took detention. And a lower grade. And you're scraping crusty pudding off the wall on a Friday night just so I won't get in trouble?"_

" _Pretty much." Tori said._

" _Well, you can't be nice to me when I've been mean to you. That's not how it works."_

" _Well, then try being nice to me sometime. Maybe that'll work." Tori replied, "now go play, I gotta scrape this onion dip off the wall." She paused and leaned forward, sniffing a little, "or onion puss."_

 _Jade frowned, rolling her eyes. She couldn't leave it like this. She stalked over to a table and set her bag down, her eyes bouncing back up to Tori. She had to make them even. So Jade grabbed a bucket and a scrapper and moved to start scraping food from the pillar. When Tori glanced back with a confused brow Jade forced a smile._

" _Okay, this…" Jade said, dropping her scrapper into the bucket. "Might be more fun with some tunes." She moved toward the control panel, slipping on some food, she made it classy though catching herself on the button and spinning around fast as the music started to play._

 _Tori joined in on her dancing while they continued to scrape the walls. "Hey, D!" Tori smiled looking to Derrek. "Come scrape with us this is fun."_

 _Jade waved him over with a smile of her own and a wave of her scrapper._

 _He contemplated it for a moment before he joined them, "okay."_

" _Here!" Jade said catching him in action. "Try it with two." She danced around a little longer, an idea popping into her head. Twirling the towel around she glanced over at Derrek who seemed to be having fun._

 _Jade tapped Tori's arm and motioned to Derrek before waving for her to ditch. Tori caught on quickly and set her bucket down as the pair grabbed their bags. They took one last look at Derrek, still caught in his own world before they danced their way out of the theater._

* * *

 **Do you like Jade's side of the story too? Am I doing okay?**


	4. Beck's Big Break

**...Is anyone still here for this lol...**

* * *

"You're late!" Jade snapped as she climbed into her boyfriend's car, closing the door with a slam.

"I'm sorry." He replied with a smile, "I got held up by something."

"Oh." Jade replied, "who was she?"

"What!?" Beck said, "it's not like that." He chuckled, "I got good news."

Jade frowned, "you're laughing! You think this is funny!"

"Look, Jade, can we not do this today?" His smile finally faded.

"Oh, so you don't even-"

"I was checking the mail." Beck interrupted.

The girl's head snapped over to him, "what?"

"I was checking the mail." Beck repeated.

"It took you thirty minutes to check the mail?"

Beck frowned, "no, it didn't take thirty minutes to check the mail. I got a script and a final call-back for that movie I told you about."

"What?" Jade wondered.

"I got a call-back." Beck said again.

"What!?" Jade said again, "you got a call-back and this is how you tell me!" She reached out and smacked him in the arm.

"Ow!"

"You could've shared it with a little more enthusiasm. You don't even seem happy about it."

Beck's head fell back against the seat as he groaned. "I tried to tell you when you got in the car but you jumped down my throat-"

"I did not jump down your throat-"

"Jade!" Beck finally snapped causing the girl to close her mouth. "Are you happy for me or not?"

Jade's glare softened and she broke out in a smile, "of course I am." She flung herself forward to wrap her arms around him, "I'm so proud of you!" When she felt his arms wrap around her, she relaxed, before slowly pulling away. "You're gonna be great." She told him truthfully.

She just hopped when he finally did break out into the business (which was inevitable) he didn't forget about her. "When is it?"

Beck smiled at her, his hand brushing her hair behind her ear before he turned forward to pull away from the West house and head to Hollywood Arts. "Today at 5:30."

"You'll be great." She told him again before shifting in her seat to pull down the sun visor and glance in the mirror attached. "Aw man!"

"What?" Beck wondered, his eyes jumping to her before they fell back on the road.

"My makeup messed up." Jade told him, glancing over and showing him.

"I don't see it." Beck replied, "you look good to me."

"It's messed up." Jade repeated, opening her bag and digging through it, "ugh." She mumbled when the eye lining pencil didn't jump out at her.

Again Beck was looking to her, "I really don't think there's anything wrong with it."

"Thanks." Jade told him, "but your opinion sucks right now."

The girl paused in her footsteps as she ruffled through her bag again, still looking for her eyeliner.

"You okay?" Beck wondered, turning on his heel once he noticed Jade was no longer beside him.

"My makeup messed up in your car. I told you earlier."

Beck nodded, "yeah, but I told you it didn't look bad."

"Cause you're so resourceful when it comes to makeup."

Beck shrugged, "you don't have to snap at me." He said calmly. "I think you look great. I can't even tell."

Jade huffed with a roll of her eyes, "my stupid brother!" She said, "If you see Cat will you send her in here for me?" She said pointing toward the bathroom, "I don't have time to run around and find her."

"Really, Jade you look fine." Beck tried again.

"Just send Cat in, will you?"

"Fine." He sighed, raising his hands in surrender.

Jade pushed the bathroom door open and stalked over to the counter where she threw her bag up to rummage through again in a third attempt to find the eyeliner she usually had inside. She cursed inwardly to herself when nothing showed up. She knew she should've kept a better eye on her brother when he was looking for art supplies.

"Hey, Beck said you were looking for me?" Cat asked as she pushed open the bathroom door.

"Yeah." Jade said, her arms crossed over her chest, "my brother took my eyeliner this morning and was using it as a colored pencil, it was ruined and I need some. Do you have any?"

Cat smiled, with a glint in her eye Jade couldn't quite place. "Yeah, sure." She said handing over her stuffed pig, "hold that, please?"

Jade shrugged, "okay." She carefully examined the pig as her friend dug through her bag. "Why did you bring this with you?"

Cat looked up for a moment before continuing her search, "Mr. Piggy is my good luck charm. Remember you gave him to me for my tenth birthday?"

"Yeah." Jade replied, she did remember, but that didn't answer her question.

"Well, I took him with me to school the next day and I had a test. I ended up getting all the answers right so now every time I have a test or a speech to give I bring him with me." She smiled as she stood hack up to trade eyeliner for Mr. Piggy.

"And it actually works?" Jade wondered, turning toward the mirror to apply her makeup.

"Yeah, works every time." Cat smiled, "I always get at least a B on my projects."

"A, B?" Jade asked.

"Yeah." Cat said, "way better than a C." She smiled ducking down to pick up her bag, "you can keep that one. I've got more at home." She pointed to the pencil, "I'll see you second period."

"Bye." Jade said before Cat turned away, Mr. Piggy dangling in her hand.

Jade traced her eye a little more before moving the pencil along her other eye to even it out before she placed the cap back on it and grabbed her bag to exit the bathroom.

"See?" She asked pointing to her face as she sat next to Beck after reaching the classroom, "looks better."

Beck glanced at her, but he chose to stay silent. Instead he turned his focus back to the pages in front of him, reading over the lines. Jade watched him for a moment, a smile creeping its way onto her lips before she turned her head to take notes from the board. Beck was too focused on his script so she decided she'd have to be the one to pay attention in class this time.

* * *

"Thanks." Beck told Festus as he grabbed the food from the man in the truck. He handed one of the lunches to Jade before they turned away to walk toward their normal table.

"Ow!" Jade called stopping in her venture violently shaking her hand.

"What?" Beck wondered, concern etched on his face, "what happened?"

"I think a bee just stung me!" Jade growled, raising her left hand and rubbing her finger against throbbing thumb, whining a little at the pain.

"Come on," Beck reached out, placing his hand on the bottom of her back and guided her over to their table. "You'll feel better in a minute."

"Easy for you to say." Jade grumbled swinging her legs over the bench and flopping down. She flipped the top off of her food and stared blankly at her lunch, raising her injured thumb to her mouth and sucking on it a little to quench the pain.

Beck smirked as he opened his own food, and took a small bite. "You wanna look at my script?" He wondered. "Would that make you feel better?"

Jade eyed him sadly, "maybe." She told him.

With a small shake of his head her boyfriend reached into his backpack and pulled out the script, handing it over to her.

"Have you met Melinda Murray yet?" Jade wondered, flipping the script open.

"Nah, I haven't met anyone who's actually in the film yet." He told her.

"'I'm sorry the chicken breast isn't available today'" Jade read the highlighted line. "Is that all you get to say?"

"Pretty much." Beck nodded, taking another bite of his food.

"That's stupid." Jade said. "You deserve more lines." She tossed the script on the table next to Beck's backpack and glanced up at him, "you'll do it well though." Again she raised her thumb to her mouth, it hurt a lot more than she wanted it too.

Beck smiled at her, "hey, let's not get carried away yet, I haven't even landed the role."

"They'd be stupid to go another way." Jade shrugged.

Beck chuckled, "thanks." His eyes floated up where he spotted some friends. _"Hey!" Beck called over to Tori and Andre, "sit."_

" _Cool." Andre replied as he slid his bag off to take a seat._

 _Jade frowned, "ugh, I don't want them sitting here." She glanced at Beck who raised his hand to keep her calm._

" _You know it's great that you're so open with your bitterness." Tori replied._

" _She's just grouchy cause she got stung by a bee." Beck defended._

" _You see that!" Andre said, "everybody but me. Come on bees what's a guy gotta do to get stung!"_

 _Jade's hand dropped as she and Beck stared at the boy. "Ooh, script pages!" Tori smiled, reaching across the table and picking them up._

" _Ah, not for you." Beck told her taking them back._

" _You auditioning for a play?" Tori wondered._

" _Sorta." He said nonchalantly, Jade's eyes fell to Tori's tray. "It's a movie."_

" _That's so great, what movie?"_

" _I'm taking your pickle." Jade said, snatching it from her tray. She took a bite and gave Tori a forced smile._

" _So a movie?" Andre said, changing the subject back._

" _It's called Miss Fire." Beck said. "It's about this woman cop who gets fired and then goes on this crazy rampage."_

" _That's so cool. Who plays the woman cop?" Tori wondered._

" _Melinda Murray." Beck said._

 _Jade smiled at him as Tori and Andre's mouths fell open in shock. "Shut up!" Andre said._

" _You're gonna star with Melinda Murray in a movie?"_

" _Well, I'll be playing waiter number one and I only have two lines, that's if I get the part."_

" _So where's the script? I wanna read it."_

" _Well, you don't get the whole script unless you get the part." Beck told her, picking up his script, "they only give you a few pages to audition with."_

" _Ow!" A girl gasped as she passed by with her friends. "I just got stung by a bee."_

" _Oh, her?" Andre said, looking up to the bees, "really?"_

"What is wrong with you?" Jade wondered, watching Andre plop down on his seat.

"I've never been stung by a bee." He told her simply.

"So count your blessings and get over it." She snapped, still sucking on her thumb. "It hurts. And not in the good way."

Tori frowned, "What's the good way?"

Jade raised her head wiggling her eyebrows, "I can show you."

"Um…no thanks." Tori replied quietly.

* * *

Beck had called her around nine o'clock that night sharing the exciting news that he had gotten the role in the movie, and that they'd need him to start as soon as possible, so they'd be faxing paperwork over to the school the next morning to excuse him from school.

 _"What did you do to my pants?" Tori asked the next day while they were in class._

 _"Good!" Sikowitz yelled out as he stood beside her, "now, terrified."_

 _A look of horror spread across Tori's face as she said, "what did you do to my pants!"_

 _"Falling off a cliff," Sikowitz directed as he switched sides._

 _"What did you do to my pants!" Tori said as she pretended to fall, letting the word pants stay drawn out._

 _"Excellent!" Sikowitz stated, clasping his hands together. "Now, as you can see the same dialogue can invoke an infinite amount of emotions, depending on how an actor chooses to play it." He explained to the class before pointing to Tori, "like a robot!"_

 _"What did you do to my pants?" Tori questioned as she mocked a robot._

 _"Wrong!" Sikowitz yelled out, "robot's don't wear pants." He smiled, doing a little jig, "it was a trick!" He then clapped moving up to the stage, "Tori, you may sit. I suggest using a chair."_

 _"I'll give it a shot." Tori told him walking back to her seat._

 _Then Beck interrupted pushing through the door, "sorry guys." He said honestly._

 _Everyone got excited, "How was working on a movie!" Cat wondered._

 _Beck shrugged, "you know."_

 _"Beck! You're late," Sikowitz announced._

 _The boy nodded, "I'm sorry," he said walking over to the teacher, "we're doing this scene and there was a problem with the lighting-"_

 _"Say it like a robot," Sikowitz interrupted._

 _Beck looked shocked however he played along, "There was a problem with the lighting, I'm very sorry."_

 _"Eeh, wrong." Sikowitz said disappointed._

 _"Wrong?"_

 _"You said you were sorry, and everybody knows robot's don't have emotion, and therefore cannot feel regret. You kids have got to do you robot research!" He stomped on the floor._ _"Beck, sit." Sikowitz demanded._

 _The boy went over to his chair and took a seat, all eyes instantly connected with him as Sikowitz continued, "now, as we've clearly demonstrated dialogue can impact a scene in many different ways depending upon—dear Gandhi I'm boring myself. Beck, tell us all about the movie!" He crouched down giving his attention to the boy._

 _Everyone commented in agreement and Jade smiled proudly._

 _"Okay," Beck started, "well, um, my call time wa-" he stopped as Sikowitz hopped up from the stage and pulled him out of his chair before pushing him on the stage._

 _Beck looked at them all a moment before continuing, "my call time was this morning at 5:00 A.M."_

 _"Ooh," Cat interrupted cheerfully, "that's early!"_

 _"Yeah," Beck said agreeing, "um, well they did my hair and makeup, and then the costume designer came into my dressing room an-"_

 _"Wait, the costume designer was in your dressing room!" Jade interjected, jealously hinting in her voice._

 _Beck nodded, "uh-huh."_

 _"Was she cute?!" Jade wondered._

 _"He," Beck smiled, "was adorable."_

 _Jade gave him a sheepish little grin before looking at the floor._

 _"Did you meet Melinda Murray?" Andre asked._

 _"No, not yet." Beck answered._

 _"I bet she's been stung by a bee." Andre said._

 _"I wouldn't know," Beck started, "but you can ask her yourself."_

 _The class exchanged confused glances before Tori spoke up, "what?"_

 _"The assistant director told me they need extras for a couple of scenes so if any of you guys wanna do it-" everyone jumped from their seats excitedly, "okay," Beck said as they all crowded around him as the bell rang._

 _"Alright, read chapter seven for tomorrow and study robots." Sikowitz said as the class began to part ways. "Good, Gandhi I left my harmonica in the men's room!" He said before he ran out of the classroom._

"You're obviously going to get me in this movie as an extra." Jade said as she walked with Beck, Tori and Andre toward the lockers.

"Well, yes, that's not even a question." He told her.

"What about me?" Andre wondered quickly, "I-I mean I'm your best friend."

"Of course." Beck said, "yeah, you, Tori, Cat and Robbie are definitely in it."

"Well, I'm not so sure about Robbie." Tori voiced.

"What are you talking about?" Beck asked.

"Did you not see him in class?" Tori asked. When no one replied, she shrugged, "he's falling asleep a lot lately and I just—I think something might be wrong with him."

"Oh well." Jade shrugged when they finally reached the hall with her locker. She turned to the scissor covered masterpiece and cranked the door open.

"That's your locker?" Tori asked with a hint of nervousness in her voice.

"Yeah." Jade smirked, "pretty right?"

"Um…" Tori trailed off, her eyes falling to Andre before she grabbed his arm and tugged him further down the hall.

"I gotta run." Beck said, "I missed first period so I need to stop by and get my assignment before next class."

Jade shrugged, "okay." Beck ducked his head down to kiss her cheek before he dashed up the stairs.

The girl finished switching her books out at her locker just in time to see a flash of red dash by her from the doors by the Asphalt Café. Her head was ducked down, but Jade could hear her sniffling as she maneuvered around some people. "Cat?" She asked.

"Not now," it was faint but Jade could still hear it.

Her head whipped to the side, glancing around for the cause of Cat's tears, but whatever it was, was nowhere to be found. Jade quickly turned in the direction Cat had gone, "move!" She barked at a group of students who quickly parted like the Red Sea allowing Jade to step between them.

"Who did it?" She asked as soon as she entered the bathroom catching sight of Cat bent over the counter.

Cat's eyes met Jade's angry stare through the mirror.

"I said, who? Did? It?" Jade asked again slowly.

"No, one," Cat sniffled.

Jade took a step forward, "you're lying, now who made you cry?"

Cat eyed the other girl as she stepped up next to her, it took her a moment but she finally answered, "Rex said something mean to me...but it was nothing."

"It made you cry." Jade pointed out, "that's not nothing."

Cat shrugged, "I cry over stupid things, so it was nothing." She wiped the rest of her tears away and gave her best smile, "see, I'm all better!" She told her friend adding a giggle.

Jade watched her for a minute, she knew it was all fake, but she didn't press her for any more. "Fine, but next time he insults you don't cry about it." She snapped, "do what I do and rip his arm off."

Cat frowned, "that's a little mean."

"I don't care." Jade told her. She pushed Cat's hair back a little and moved to grab a paper towel before reaching up and wiping away some of the stray makeup. "Don't let people push you around."

Her friend smiled, but a little sniffle did escape her, "I don't know how to be that way toward people."

Jade smirked, "well it's a good thing you've got me to teach you then, huh?"

* * *

Saturday morning she joined Cat, Tori and Andre as well as a few other students from their class at Paramour Studios where Beck was filming his scene for Miss Fire. Since he was playing a waiter they were needing extra's for other people dining in the restaurant.

"They have so many selections!" Cat said cheerfully as she eyed the options on the craft service table.

"I know!" Tori replied, "it's so cool."

"Hey, guys, look at Andre." Jade smiled, pointing over to the boy who was chatting up a crew member.

"Aww," Cat said, "that's so cute."

"And she's walking away." Tori said. "Oh, shh, here comes Andre."

 _"Hey," Tori said when Andre approached her Cat and Jade. "We saw you working that hot girl over there."_

 _"Yeah, I think she's into me." Andre agreed looking in the direction the girl had gone._

 _"Right," Jade sighed, "we could tell by the way she ran screaming from you."_

 _Andre shared a smile with Cat as a chuckle slipped through his lips._

 _"Okay, people, people. Listen up. Melinda's on her way to set, first positions please." The director said._

 _Cat ran around excited, "First positions!" She cried out._

 _When she noticed no one did the same thing and everyone in the room was looking at her oddly she got embarrassed and quickly moved away._

 _Tori, Andre and Jade sat at one of the tables while Cat made her way to the background to stand._

 _Melinda Murray entered the room and walked over to her place and sat down when the director continued to speak, "alright, now in action, Melinda and Jeff will start their dialogue, then our waiter?" He paused looking at Beck._

 _The boy in costume stated, "Beck."_

 _"Beck," the director said._

 _Jade raised her arm, "my boyfriend."_

 _"Her boyfriend." The director said, "will come in do his line then move off to the left. Who's not ready?" As no one said anything he nodded, "good, roll." And he made his way from the scene._

 _"Rolling, speed!" Someone in production yelled._

 _"74 Apple, take one," Another man started._

 _"And action!" The director hollered._

Beck leaned down a little as he stood beside the table Jade was seated at miming some words. Tori looked a little confused as Jade and Andre mimed something of their own. Beck's eyes jumped to Tori and he silently said, 'okay.' Before he moved in the direction of the main actors.

Tori leaned forward, "why can't we just talk." She said it almost breathlessly.

Jade said nothing instead she lifted her glass to her lips to take a drink.

"We can't be really loud." Andre explained equally quiet. "Or the mics will catch it and it'll interrupt the scene.

" _Wait! What did you just say?" Melinda stated disgustedly._ Jade frowned looking over to Beck and the actors. _"Can we cut so this guy can learn his lines?!"_

" _Hold!"_

" _Melinda, please, only the director yells cut."_

" _He said his line wrong. He's supposed to say we're out of the chicken breast, not the chicken breast isn't available today." She mocked before turning to the crew beside her._

" _So let the script supervisor tell him that-"_

" _You know what?" Beck chimed in, "uh, she's right. It's totally my fault, I'll get it right this time."_

" _Hope so!" Melinda replied._

" _Great, alright. Let's do this again." The director told them. "Roll."_

" _Um! Wait, excuse me." Tori interrupted waving her hand. Jade glared at her, her hand slowly lowering. "Um actually Beck got his line right." Tori shared._

" _Hmm, Tori," Beck said with an awkward laugh, "no, no. No, no."_

" _What?" The director asked, walking back over to them._

" _Sit down!" Jade demanded quietly._

 _Tori ignored her, holding up the sides so the director could see, "see, waiter number ones line is I'm sorry, the chicken breast isn't available today."_

" _Oh, yeah. Kid you had it right."_

" _Whoa, whoa, whoa," Melinda said quickly, joining the group. "What are you?"_

" _Tori Vega, background player, big fan! Hi Melinda Murray!"_

" _Okay, an extra is correcting me on the set."_

" _I'm sorry, but you yelled at my friend and he was totally right about-"_

" _She's your friend?" Melinda directed at Beck._

" _Yeah." Beck said, "she's uh-"_

" _Go!" The actress demanded pointing toward the exit._

 _Beck glanced back confused, "go?"_

" _Yeah, I want you off this movie."_

" _Melinda!" The director chimed in._

" _You want him here or me?"_

 _Jade frowned as the director looked to Beck, "kid, I'm sorry."_

" _No." Beck replied, sadness evident in his voice, "no, it's cool." He took the towel off his arm and pushed past Tori and Melinda to leave the set._

" _What!?" Tori cried out, "no, no, no why'd you get mad at him, I'm the one who corrected you?"_

" _Good point." Melinda stated, "bye."_

" _But-but why can't you-"_

" _Out! Go!"_

 _Jade and Andre shared a look as Tori left the set. "Aw! That's not what I wanted to happen."_

Jade wanted to jump up. She was so close to snapping at Melinda Murray, but she knew better. So instead she waited for the director to end the day saying they'd have to find another waiter before they could continue with the scene. And when they did she stood up from the table. "I am going to kill her." She mumbled.

"Whoa, whoa, chill down." Andre said trying to calm her.

"Where are we going" Cat asked finally reaching her friends.

Jade didn't say a word, she just quickened her pace.

"She's heading to Beck's dressing room." Andre told the redhead.

As soon as she saw Tori standing outside the room Jade's anger bubbled over. "Yo!" Jade hollered out, "Vega!"

Tori jumped a little frightened as she looked toward the three people walking her way. "Jade." She said.

"What do you think you're doing?" Jade wondered. "Here we are on a real set for a real movie, one might I add that my boyfriend was _oh so_ generous enough to get you a part in and you can't be bothered to keep your mouth shut long enough for him to do his scene."

"Jade, I-"

"I'm not finished yet," Jade growled, "I was nice to you once, and I was just beginning to stand you but now you've gone and mes-"

"Jade." Beck said as he opened his door, "calm down." He draped his arm over his girlfriend's shoulder before kissing her temple, "I'm alright."

Jade rolled her eyes, "yeah, but Tor-"

"It's okay." Beck said, "let's get some coffee."

Jade sighed, crossing her arms, "fine, but only you and me."

Beck gave her a grin, "I wouldn't have it any other way."

"Aw!" Cat smiled.

Andre gave a little chuckle, "come on Tori, I'll take you home."

Jade looked at her boyfriend, "you're still in costume?"

"I didn't have time to change, you started yelling at Tori and I figured I should stop it before it got too far." Beck explained.

Jade slipped out from under his arm, "okay, give me your keys and I'll drive Cat home then come back to get you for coffee."

Her boyfriend obliged, handing the keys over before heading back into his dressing room.

For ten minutes the ride to Cat's house was silent, it wasn't until Jade was parked in front of her house when Cat finally spoke. "You and Beck really are a cute couple." She whispered.

"What?" Jade asked, because that comment was seriously out of the blue.

"Nothing." Cat whispered. "Thanks for the ride."

Jade nodded, "whatever." She wanted to dive in and ask Cat why she'd said that, but she was honestly too angry to even care.

As Cat's hand rested on the door handle she sighed, "you're really upset about the movie, aren't you?"

"Yeah," Jade sighed, "I am. But not for me, I'm just—it was Beck's chance to start his career, he was going to star in a movie and yeah it may have been a small roll and he may have only had one line but it was his shot. And now it's all been blown."

Cat gave her a light smile, "so, are you gonna stay on as an extra?"

Jade shook her head, "no, it wouldn't be right because Beck was the one who got me the job."

"Yeah." Cat whispered, her head bobbing up and down before she pushed the door open and bid her friend goodbye.

After picking Beck up outside Paramour Studios Jade drove a couple blocks over to Skybucks. They're car ride was silent and she guessed Beck was trying to figure out something to say to her that wouldn't tip her off and make her more angry.

"Jade." He finally said as she pulled the vehicle into parking lot. "You know Tori didn't mean to get me fired."

Jade shrugged, bluntly saying, "so?"

"So." He said, "you can't hate her for something she didn't intentionally do."

"No." She said, "correction: _you_ can't hate her for something she didn't intentionally do. _I_ on the other hand already hated her, this just adds fuel to the fire."

Beck rolled his eyes, "Jade-"

"I don't get it." Jade snapped, "why aren't you more angry? This was your first movie role, if anyone were to get you fired it should've been you!"

Beck's lips curved in a smile, "what?" He asked with a chuckle.

"You know what I mean." Jade said, "it's not right."

"I know." Beck said. "And I am upset about it."

Jade looked at him, "you have a funny way of showing it."

"Well, I just figured you're angry enough for both of us." When Jade glared at him he shrugged, "and I know it was an accident. Come on, let's go inside."

"Fine." Jade said, pushing her door open, "but I'm buying."

"I won't argue with you." Beck told her.

* * *

 _Andre was playing daunting music as Beck and Jade joined him and Tori at the table. "Can we sit somewhere else?" She asked her boyfriend._

" _Nope." Beck answered quickly._

" _Ugh." Jade sighed, but she let her bag down and took a seat anyway, "fine, we'll sit with the girl who couldn't keep her mouth shut and got you fired."_

 _Andre filled a void of silence with suspending music. "Beck, I-I swear if there was anything I could do to make it up to you I would."_

" _I bet you would." Jade said with a knowing smile, before turning to Andre who started playing some form of funky music. "You know, if you really wanted to help you wouldn't just sit there like a bag of doorknobs. You'd do something." Jade said angrily, sliding off the bench and taking her food with her._

" _Where you going?" Beck called after her._

" _Anywhere else." She replied quickly, before pausing as Andre started playing the keys again. "Okay." She said, leaning down and flipping the keyboard over. "This…" She popped the battery cover open and swung the keyboard back so the batteries would fall out. "And that's for you." She said before walking away._

"Hey, hey, hey! Jade!"

"What?" Jade spun around looking to her boyfriend who had chased her through the Asphalt Café and inside.

"Why are you doing this?" He asked. "You gotta calm down."

"I can't." Jade growled, "okay, I'm mad. And you should be too."

Beck shrugged, "maybe I am." He said. "But dwelling on the situation and taking it out on Tori isn't going to make it better."

"I just…" Jade sighed, running a hand though her hair, "I just wish that I could help you get your part back." She told him. "I want you to be successful."

"I know. And I will be, when the time is right."

"That's just it." Jade said, "the time was right. It's not your fault that the role got torn away from you."

"I got fired Jade, it happens."

"Not to you." Jade replied quickly. "This isn't right. And it's not fair. And I hate that I can't do anything!"

"Jade-"

"I should be able to do something. You're my boyfriend." She looked around helplessly, "you'd do something…you'd find a way to help me."

Beck smiled, taking a small step forward and taking her hand. "Jade you are helping me." He shrugged, "you're here for me to talk to. And you care enough to get angry at something that has nothing to do with you."

"But it's not enough." She mumbled sadly.

"It's just enough." He told her.

* * *

 **Hurry up and get to school. I got a surprise!  
-Beck**

Jade read the message with a frown she was a little upset that he wasn't going to be picking her up this morning. When she'd asked him why he had told her it was a secret. Which of course had her worried, but a part of her thought he phrased it that way just rile her up. She sent him a quick message in return asking what the surprise was and his reply was that he'd share it with her when she got to school.

 **Beck, you know how I am with surprises. I don't like them.  
-Jade**

His reply was almost instant.

 **You'll like this one, I promise.  
-Beck**

Without sending him anything back Jade finished getting ready for school and within a short amount of time she was standing with Beck, Andre and Cat in the hallways of Hollywood Arts.

"So what's this big surprise?" Jade wondered.

Beck smiled reaching into his backpack and pulling out papers.

"Ooh! A notebook!" Cat squealed.

Beck laughed, "no," he held the papers out so they could read the title.

"Oh, my God!" Jade let out, "you got your part back?"

"Uh-huh."

"Dude!" Andre cheered, "congrats!"

"That's even better than a notebook." Cat told them.

Jade didn't even try to suppress her excitement, grinning wickedly before she stepped forward to hug her boyfriend. "This is so awesome, how'd it happen?"

"I think it was Tori." He admitted, "I got a call from the director who said someone named 'Crystal Waters' snuck on set and caused a scene. Melinda Murray ended up going to the hospital, so her part had to be recast. And that was that. I was back in."

"Hmm." Jade hummed, "I might have to thank her for that."

Later that day when Jade was walking back from Skybucks _she catches Tori and Beck hugging by his locker. Annoyed she rolled her eyes, "one. Two….Don't let me get to three."_

 _Tori and Beck quickly pulled away from each other, Beck coughed awkwardly, clearing his throat. "Better." Jade said as she walked over to Beck and smiling at Tori as he put an arm around her._

* * *

 **Thanks for reading, if anyone still is...if not, I understand...**


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